Hello again Jam. The written contract is good; the lien clause is better.
Business and Professions Code Sections 21700 through 21716 constitute
the "California Self-Service Storage Facility Act." Section 21702
provides as follows:
"21702. The owner of a self-service storage facility and his or her
heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns have a lien
upon all personal property located at a self-service storage
facility for rent, labor, late payment fees, or other charges,
present or future, incurred pursuant to the rental agreement and for
expenses necessary for the preservation, sale, or disposition of
personal property subject to the provisions of this chapter. The
lien may be enforced consistent with the provisions in this chapter."
Essentially, what that means is that you have a lien on the property
from the moment it enters your facility. The rest of the Act provides
the procedure to enforce it.
You can start enforcement proceedings when the rent is more than 14
days late. Your first step is to send a notice, certified mail (or
regular mail if you obtain a certificate of mailing), to the renter's
last known address AND to the alternative address provided on the
rental agreement. The notice must contain:
(a) An itemized statement of the amounts due and the dates they became due.
(b) A statement that the occupant's right to use the storage space
will terminate on a specified date (not less than 14 days after the
mailing of the notice) unless all sums due are paid by the occupant
prior to the specified date.
(c) A notice that the occupant may be denied access to the storage
space after the termination date if the sums are not paid and that
an owner's lien, as provided for in Section 21702, may be imposed
thereafter.
(d) The name, street address, and telephone number of the owner or
his or her designated agent whom the occupant may contact to respond
to the notice.
See Business and Professions Code Section 21703.
Note also: Business and Professions Code Section 21704 provides a
form for this notice. You MAY use the form, you do not HAVE to use
that form, but if you do use it, you'll know that you've complied with
the law.
After you send that notice, you wait. If you sent the notice by
certified mail, you have the right to enter the space and remove the
property immediately after the termination date specified in the
notice (if the occupant didn't pay). If you sent the notice by
regular mail, you have to wait ANOTHER 14 days after the termination
date to enter the space.
Business and Professions Code Section 21705.
Either way, once you enter the space, you have to send the occupant
another notice, also by certified mail. This one is called a Notice
of Lien Sale, and must include statements:
(A) That the occupant's right to use the storage space has
terminated and that the occupant no longer has access to the stored
property.
(B) That the stored property is subject to a lien, and the amount
of the lien.
(C) That the property will be sold to satisfy the lien after a
specified date that is not less than 14 days from the date of mailing
the notice unless the amount of the lien is paid or the occupant
executes and returns by certified mail a declaration under penalty of
perjury in opposition to the lien sale (more on that below).
IN ADDITION, if you sent the original notice by regular mail, you must
include a statement that the occupant may regain full use of
the space by paying the full lien amount prior to the date specified
in the notice.
(D)That any excess proceeds of the sale over the lien amount and
costs of sale will be retained by the owner and may be reclaimed by
the occupant or claimed by another person at any time for a period of
one year from the sale and that thereafter the proceeds will be turned over
to the county.
In addition to the statements (A) through (D), you must also include a
blank form "Declaration In Opposition to Lien Sale." The form for
this Declaration is set out in the statute.
If the occupant executes and returns the Declaration in time, you
CANNOT proceed with the sale. At that point, you have to file in
court.
If the occupant does NOT return the declaration, you put an ad in the
paper once a week, for two weeks, including a general description of
the goods, the
name of the person on whose account they are being stored, the space
number of the occupant, and the name and location of the storage
facility.
Business and Professions Code Section 21707.
You must conduct the sale "in a commercially reasonable manner," and
after you've deducted the amount of the lien, plus your costs of sale,
you must hold the excess (if any) for the occupant. If he doesn't
claim it after one year, you have to pay it over to the county.
Note: if any of the property is a vehicle or boat, then a lien held
by the lender takes priority over your lien. (Section 21702.5)
The entire Act is here:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/bpc/21700-21716.html
It includes the necessary forms.
I hope this has been helpful. Please don't hesitate to ask if I can
provide any further information. Best of luck. |
Clarification of Answer by
hagan-ga
on
13 Jan 2006 06:15 PST
Hello, Jam. I'm glad the answer was helpful!
You can remove their lock, and replace it with one of your own, on the
date specified in your initial Notice (which has to be at least 14
days after the Notice is sent.)
So let's say you send the Notice of Lien TODAY -- January 13th. The
Notice of Lien must include a specific date upon which the occupant's
right to enter the space will end, and that date must be at least 14
days away. So your Notice will state:
"If this sum is not paid in full before January 27, 2006, your right
to use the storage space will terminate, you will be denied access,
and an owner's lien on any stored property will be imposed."
IF YOU SENT THE NOTICE BY CERTIFIED MAIL, you can change the locks,
enter the space, and remove their property on January 27.
HOWEVER. If you send the notice by REGULAR MAIL with a certificate of
mailing, you can still change the locks on January 27, but you have to
wait ANOTHER 14 days to remove the property.
If the property is of too little value to make an auction
"commercially reasonable," then you don't have to hold one. You only
have to sell the property in a "commercially reasonable" fashion. So
let's say the property is only the owner's high school notebooks and a
half-finished manuscript. You don't have to hold an auction for THAT.
Finally, you ask about taking the owner to collection if there isn't
enough property to pay your bill. ABSOLUTELY you can. Section 21713:
"The rights
provided by this chapter shall be in addition to all other rights
provided by law to a creditor against his or her debtor."
I'm glad I could help you with this -- and again, if there's anything
further you need before you rate the answer, please let me know.
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